Follow Us on Google
Louis Ibah
A sudden surge in the number of air travellers result of the Muslim ‘Eid el Kabir’ public holiday pushed up cost of air travel by over 50 per cent on most domestic routes with airline operators recording a bumper harvest over the weekend.
Spokesman for Dana Air, Mr. Kingsley Ezenwa told Daily Sun on phone yesterday that it was apparent from the data on passenger traffic available to airlines that more Nigerians opted to travel by air, than by road for the Sallah holidays.
Ezenwa said his airline, recorded a 95 per cent aircraft load factors which is a reflection of the number of passengers on a particular aircraft. He argued that the greatest challenge for the operators was keeping fares affordable for passengers amid a glaring imbalance in supply and demand forces.
“Yes! the fares have gone up across board, but at Dana Air, we are trying as much as possible to keep fares as pocket-friendly as possible,” Ezenwa told Daily Sun.
“The traffic compared to period before the Sallah has increased. Airlines care so much about their passengers; At Dana Air, we are duty bound to ensure that our guests are not stranded at the airports as a result of the rush. We are therefore monitoring the situation and if there is need to add extra flights on some routes, we will do exactly that,” he added.
Investigation by Daily Sun at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Lagos revealed that between Friday and Monday, fares on the Lagos – Abuja; Lagos- Owerri; Lagos- Port Harcourt; Lagos-Kano; Lagos-Uyo; Lagos-Enugu; Lagos – Kaduna, among others increased to about N50,000 – N65,000 on economy class tickets.
A passenger, who identified himself as Saviour Ubani, said because he was unable to get a seat on any aircraft online as they were all fully booked, he came to the airport where he ended up paying N70,000 to get a ticket on the Lagos – Owerri route on Saturday.
“Flights are fully booked or fully booked; we are having almost 95 per cent load factor at the moment. And I assure you that we are trying our best to ensure that our guests get the best of services at this festive time and as always,” Ezenwa added.
An industry source who linked the exorbitant cost of tickets to the mismatch between demand and supply said the existing local airlines combined fleet capacity is less than 43 aircraft, a figure he considered grossly inadequate to cope with the huge passenger traffic during festive or long public holidays.
The Federal Government had declared Monday and Tuesday (August 12-13, 2019) public holidays to mark Muslim Sallah festival celebrated the world over last Sunday. The two days holiday, when added to the normal Saturday and Sunday weekend, meant that Nigerians, had at a stretch, four days of uninterrupted holidays, enough reason to propel many to travel out of their base to meet loves ones or for fun elsewhere.
